Locally operated visitors centers will step into the gap for hikers and other travelers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park this week while rangers remain furloughed during the federal government shutdown.

East Tennessee's flagship national park remains mostly open, but anyone looking for a restroom or other such services inside the park boundaries will be out of luck, park spokeswoman Dana Soehn said.

That shutdown won't affect the Townsend Visitors Center and other such stops on the park's outskirts in Gatlinburg, Sevierville and across the North Carolina line in Bryson City.

"We're outside the park itself, but we're an official park information source, with all the maps and other materials people look for," said Mark Snyder, an employee at the Townsend center, operated by the Blount Partnership and the Great Smoky Mountains Association. "And with the comfort stations and restrooms inside the park closed, we're a good place for people to use if they don't want to do the Boy Scout or Girl Scout thing in the woods."

About 140 of the Smokies' 180 employees will be furloughed throughout the shutdown, with the 40 still on duty handling only essential jobs and emergencies. Visitors centers, campgrounds and restrooms inside the park are closed, and no back-country permits will be issued.

"We only have two campgrounds (Smokemont and Cades Cove) and four picnic areas (Cades Cove, Deep Creek, Metcalf Bottoms, and Greenbrier) open during the winter months. We will not be operating these facilities," Soehn said.

Most roads and trails inside the park remain open, except for any secondary roads closed due to weather. Park crews will handle any necessary snow or ice removal on only the park's three main roads - Newfound Gap Road between Gatlinburg and Cherokee, the Spur between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, and Foothills Parkway West between Walland and Look Rock for the Top of the World community - until normal operations resume.